


Pallidus invicem

by JenJo



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Mutual Pining, group assignments are the bane of all
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-01
Updated: 2017-05-03
Packaged: 2018-09-21 08:23:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9539591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JenJo/pseuds/JenJo
Summary: Group assignments, the bane of many a university student.Of course, they don't *always* turn out bad





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [oh_no_oh_dear](https://archiveofourown.org/users/oh_no_oh_dear/gifts).



> I hope you enjoy. 
> 
> Thrown together in a group assignment in university.  
> Friends to lovers.  
> Mutual pining.
> 
> Look at these prompts. Look how beautifully they fit together.

 

There are many words that instil a grand sense of dread in the minds of university students everywhere.

But perhaps the most soul crushing of them all?

Group Assignment.

Don’t misunderstand, Sam understood  _ why  _ tutors gave out group assignments. 

So many students, not enough time to mark individual assignments.

Learning to work cooperatively.

Gaining valuable communication skills. 

Just because Sam understood the  _ why _ , didn’t mean that he liked them.

And what was worse than a group assignment?

_ Assigned groups. _

Because of course. What small mercies could have potentially been given, had been taken away.

Because who did Sam get grouped with? Oh, only the worst case scenario:

Steve Rogers.

Steve Rogers, arts major. Steve Rogers, who volunteers every weekend. Steve Rogers, who never puts a foot wrong.

Steve Rogers, the man who broke Sam Wilson’s heart. 

It was no exaggeration, no matter what certain friends of his would say. Sam had gone and fallen for Steve, and it had ended in heartbreak. 

They had been assigned to be roommates in their first year, and had hit it off instantly. They were the kind of friends who had enough in common to always have something to talk about, while not having too much in common. 

It had been a great year; Sam’s first real experience living out of home, learning his way around the life of a university student, learning what it was to be in love. 

Learning what it was to have your heart break.

They never dated; no, Sam was much too scared to ask Steve out. Scared of ruining the friendship which had become so important to him. So he watched; watch Steve go out and have a romantic life.

In his four years at university, Sam had dated one man. Ostensibly, Sam explained it as being focused on university. But he knew the truth: _how can I date anyone, when I’m too scared to ask out the one person I_ really _want to date?_

 

~~~

 

“Well this isn't awkward at all.” 

Sam made the statement after their tutor sat behind their desk, with a general instruction to ‘read the syllabus, work on your assignments’. Sam and Steve seemed to be the only ones not yet talking, and it sounded as though no one was talking about the work. 

Steve laughed a little, barely more than a breath. “Can say that again. We’re supposed to have a third person, aren’t we?”

“Yeah,” Sam looked down at the sheet of paper the tutor had handed them, finding the name of their third group member. “Lang.”

“Scott?” Steve snapped his head around,  looking around the room,  _ almost like he didn’t want me to see his face. _

He then  looked back at Sam. “Do you know where he is?”

Sam shook his head. “How would I?”

“Aren’t the two of you…” Steve trailed off, waving a hand instead of finishing off his sentence.

“The two of us…?”

“... friends?” Steve all but winced at his words, looking away from Sam. 

Sam laughed internally at Steve’s choice of words. “More or less. Haven’t seen him yet this semester.”

Steve’s eyes snapped back to Sam, seeming to try and figure out what Sam was thinking. Sam stared back, not knowing what Steve was looking for. 

Eventually, Steve sighed and shook his head. “Well, hopefully he doesn’t just turn up at the last minute and try and claim credit for our work.”

“Not going to hold out any hopes.” Sam pulled the assignment sheet closer to him, looking it over. “So, how you wanna divide this?”

 

~~~

 

Steve dropped his bag onto his bed, before collapsing down next to it, lying face down. 

There was a time where Steve actually liked group assignments; they were a great way to meet new people, learn who  _ not  _ to talk to ever again. In short, always an interesting and valuable experience. 

After four years though, they tended to be tedious more than anything.

But then today had happened. Today, he got grouped with Sam. Beautiful, wonderful  _ Sam _ . 

Steve had fallen in love with Sam the moment they met. The gap toothed smile, the wicked sense of humour,  _ everything  _ that made Sam  _ Sam _ , combined to create what could only be described as love. 

At the start, Steve didn’t realise that it was love. It wasn’t until Sam broke his heart that Steve had realised what it was. 

Well, ‘broke his heart’ was a bit strong; it wasn’t like the two of them have ever dated. 

No, they just lived together, spent many hours studying together, ate together, went to movies together. 

_ Never dated, because you don’t want to get in the way. _

Sam was dating Scott Lang, had been since the end of last semester, so far as Steve could tell. Sam never brought him home, no, but Sam did seem distracted since they had started dating. 

And Steve was happy for Sam,  _ really _ . They were best friends; why wouldn’t he be happy for his friend?

_ Maybe if it didn’t come at the cost of my own happiness.  _

Steve groaned, rolling over onto his back and staring at his roof. He didn’t know how long he lay there, until his phone vibrated in his bag.

Turns out, he had laid there for three hours.

 

**(6.42pm) From: Bucky**

**[are you home saturday]**

**[?]**

 

**(6.44pm) To: Bucky**

**[yes]**

**(6.47pm) To: Bucky**

**[y?]**

**(6.48pm) From: Bucky**

**[secret]**

**(6.49pm) To: Bucky**

**[jerk]**

**(6.55pm) From: Bucky**

**[punk]**

 

Steve shook his head, rolling over on his bed to put his phone on charge, before returning to stare at the roof for another twenty minutes. 

_ Eventually, I’ll get some food. I might also tell Sam how I feel about him.  _

_ Pigs might also fly. _

 

~~~

 

Amazingly, Sam managed to track down Scott before their assignment was due. And, equally amazingly, Scott was free to meet up to finish the assignment. 

A week after receiving the assignment, and a week before it was due, they agreed to meet at Sam and Steve’s apartment. Because the library “is too mainstream”, and Scott’s place was unfeasible because of “ants.”

(Sam had asked what Scott meant by ants. Scott had shrugged, and repeated the word. “Ants.” Scott did not seem at all concerned by this.)

The three sat around the apartment’s lounge; Steve on the floor, Sam and Scott on the couch. Steve and Sam were nose-deep in their laptops, looking up information, while Scott spent a lot of time staring between the two. 

“We have to give a speech about this, don’t we?” Sam asked after an hour of research.

Steve nodded, not looking up from his laptop. “Yeah, I figured we could split it up? One does the intro and the first section, then one does the second and third, then the last one does fourth and conclusion.”

“Sounds good. How’re you splitting up the info?”

“I figure we can go by what the assignment lists?”

“The sub-headings? Sure, sounds good.”

While this exchange happened, Scott watched the two, almost mesmerised by the way the two seemed to forget that he was in the room, and the way that they communicated so easily.

_ Almost like…  _ “Hey, how long have you two been dating?”

For the first time that evening, Sam and Steve stopped typing, both immediately looking at Scott.

“ _ What _ ?”

“Dating. You two.” Scott looked between the two, frowning. “How long?”

Sam closed his laptop, staring at Scott, while Steve stared wide-eyed at Scott.

“Why would you think that we are dating?” Sam asked, turning around on the couch to look at Scott. 

Scott raised a hand, counting on his fingers. “You live together.”

“We were assigned as roommates first year.”

“That was three years ago.”

Sam waved a hand. “It was easier to get an apartment with a roommate.”

“You spend your free time together.”

“Because we live together.”

“In the past four years, have you ever  _ seriously  _ dated anyone else?”

Sam had no answer to that, closing his mouth and staring at Scott. He was about to say something when Steve spoke. 

“I never said anything, because I thought you two were dating.”

Sam’s head snapped to Steve, frowning. “What?”

Steve gestured between Sam and Scott. “I thought you two were dating.”

“What? No way! Why would you think that?”

“You went on a date.”

“Once. Didn’t work out.”

“Well…” Scott started, but stopped when Sam put a hand up.

“Stop,” Sam said, keeping his eyes on Steve. “Now, what did you mean, you didn’t say anything?”

Steve rubbed his neck, swallowing a couple of times before looking at Sam. “Sam. I’ve been in love with you for the past four years.”

Sam dropped the hand that had been pointed towards Scott, jaw also dropping open. “ _ What _ ?”

“My queue to leave,” Scott got up, picking up his bag and getting out of the apartment before anyone could stop him.

Truthfully, Steve and Sam didn’t even notice him leave, their eyes on each other.

“You’re going to have to run that by me again Steve,” Sam eventually got out, never taking his eyes off of Steve. “Because I’m having a hard time believing that I didn’t dream this up.”

“You… wait,” Steve paused, pointing at Sam. “You don’t have a problem with this?”

“Why would I? I’ve probably loved you for just as long.”

“ _ What _ ?”

Sam began to laugh at the absurdity of the situation. “This is ridiculous.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Why didn’t  _ you _ ?”

“I thought you were seeing Scott! Why didn’t you?”

“I didn’t want to ruin our friendship.”

“Ruin our…” Steve stood up, shaking his head. “For the love of.”

Sam watched Steve walk over to him, before sitting on Sam’s lap and pulling him into a kiss. 

Sam responded enthusiastically to the kiss, before he had to pull back to breath.

“That was… that was…” Sam was trying to talk before he had regained his breath; Steve laughed, moving to begin kissing Sam’s neck. “Please tell me I’m not dreaming.”

Steve laughed against Sam’s neck, before lightly biting. “Not a dream Sam.”

_ Thank you,  _ Sam internally whispered to anyone who was listening, before focusing all of his attention on Steve.

And was there  _ a lot  _ to pay attention to.

 

~~~

 

Sam woke up, and for a moment panicked when he felt his pillow move. But then he woke up properly, and realised that his pillow was, in fact, Steve’s chest. 

Heart rate dropping, Sam slowly pushed himself up into a sitting position, watching Steve roll over and continue sleeping. With a smile on his face, Sam got out of bed, pulling on the first pair of tracksuit pants he could reach, before pressing a kiss to Steve’s forehead and leaving him to sleep. 

He made his way to the kitchen, starting up the kettle and making himself a cup of coffee.

“Aw Sam, you’re my hero.”

Sam turned around, only to have his cup of coffee taken out of his hands by Bucky, who sat at the table with a smug smile on his face.

“Barnes.” Sam turned around to make himself a (second) cup. “Thought you were gone for another month.”

“Nah, finished my assignment early.” Bucky narrowed his eyes as Sam came to sit at the table across from him. “Aren’t those Steve’s pants?”

Sam looked down, before shrugging. “Must’ve mixed up the washing again.”

“Must’ve,” Bucky echoed, still staring at Sam. He pointed at Sam’s neck. “Have a good night, did we?”

Sam reached up to his neck, which was still tender to the touch.  _ Steve  _ really _ did a number on me.  _ “What’s it matter to you?”

Bucky lightly hit his forehead, clearly for show. “You’re right, I’m here to see Steve. Where is he?”

“Still in bed,” Sam pointed over his shoulder towards the bedrooms.

“At this time?” Bucky shook his head, standing up and going to Steve’s bedroom door, banging on it before opening the door. “Rise and shine Steve!”

Bucky came out of the room, looking confused. “Where is-”

“No need to yell,” Steve came out of Sam’s room, wearing Sam’s pants from last night and stretching his arms over his head. 

Bucky looked at Steve, looked back at Sam, (who had turned around in his chair to watch), then back to Steve. “Steve, why were you in Sam’s room?”

Steve leant back against the wall, raising an eyebrow at Bucky. “Doesn’t take a genius.”

Bucky instantly burst out laughing, shaking his head, He clapped Steve’s shoulder. “Congrats for  _ finally  _ figuring this out.” Bucky turned to Sam, nodding at him. “Both of you.”

“Wait, did everyone think we were dating?” Steve asked, coming to sit next to Sam. Sam pushed his coffee across to Steve, who took a grateful sip. 

“Pretty much,” Bucky returned to his seat, watching as Steve kissed Sam’s cheek.

“Thanks Sam.”

“Oh no, I take it back,” Bucky shook his head, pointing at the two of them. “If you’re going to be disgustingly cute around me, I take back my congrats.”

“As always, I live for your approval Barnes,” Sam said, as he took hold of Steve’s hand. 

“He jests,” Steve said, squeezing Sam’s hand. “He’s just jealous.”

“Me,  _ jealous _ ?” Bucky shook his head. “Not a chance.”

“Why are you here Buck?”

“Right. The important business,” Bucky leant slightly across the table, towards Steve. “You’ll never guess who I caught up with last week…”

As Bucky shared his story with Steve, Sam could not keep his eyes off of the man sitting next to him. Their life hadn’t changed, not really. He just got to  _ hold hands with Steve, kiss Steve, sleep with Steve _ …

_ Okay, maybe my life  _ has  _ changed a little. But I wouldn’t change a thing. _


	2. Texting Shenanigans

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a fun text exchange between the friends in the wake of new developments.

**(8.07am) From: Bucky** **  
** **To: Group:**

**[youll never guess what i just saw]**

 

**(8.08am) From: Clint**

**To: Group:**

**[for the love of everything, it better be good]**

**(8.09am)**

**To: Group:**

**[its too early]**

 

**(8.10am) From: Sharon**

**[It’s not early Barton]**

 

**(8.11am) From: Clint**

**[yes it is Carter]**

 

**(8.12am) From: Bucky**

**[children]**

**[settle down for the story]**

 

**(8.13am) From: Clint**

**[well hurry up]**

 

**(8.15am) From: Sharon**

**[We’re waiting Barnes.]**

 

**(8.17am) From: Bucky**

**[Steve and Sam are dating]**

 

**(8.18am) From: Clint**

**[werent they already?]**

 

**(8.18am) From: Sharon**

**[FINALLY]**

 

**(8.20am) From: Bucky**

**[finally indeed]**

**[got their act together]**

**[of course now we can no longer be friends]**

 

**(8.23am) From: Clint**

**[Too much pda?]**

 

**(8.25am) From: Bucky**

**[YOU HAVE NO IDEA]**

 

**(8.28am) From: Sharon**

**[Nat says to remind you two of last week]**

**[also Nat says finally]**

 

**(8.30am) From: Clint**

**[aww]**

 

**(8.31am) From: Bucky**

**[i was weak and couldnt resist]**

 

**(8.34am) From: Sharon**

**[Nat says too bad. You’ve set a precedent]**

 

**(8.35am) From: Clint**

**[im going back to sleep]**

 

**(8.37am) From: Sharon**

**[Clint, we can see you watching videos]**

 

**(8.38am) From: Clint**

**[shush im asleep.]**

 

**(8.40am) From: Bucky**

**[sleep is a great way to avoid responsibilities]**

 

**(8.42am) From: Sharon**

**[it is]**

 

**(8.43am) From: Clint**

**[thank you]**

 

**(8.44am) From: Bucky**

**[clint, youre doing a terrible job at pretending to be asleep]**

 

**(8.46am) From: Steve**

**[I open my phone to talk to people, but I see Bucky beat me to it]**

 

**(8.48am) From: Bucky**

**[what is seen cannot be unseen]**

**[also whoops thought this was the other one]**

 

**(8.49am) From: Sam**

**[last week.]**

 

**(8.50am) From: Clint**

**[whoops asleep again]**

 

**(8.51am) From: Sharon**

**[Can’t escape the truth Barton]**

 

**(8.52am) From: Bucky**

**[see i see sharon, but hear natasha]**

 

**(8.53am) From: Sharon**

**[Is that such a bad thing?]**

 

**(8.53am) From: Bucky**

**[yes]**

 

**(8.53am) From: Clint**

**[yes]**

 

**(8.53am) From: Sam**

**[yes]**

  
  


**(8.53am) From: Steve**

**[yes]**

 

**(8.55am) From: Sharon**

**[Nat says two are better than one]**

**[Congrats Sam & Steve, took you long enough.]**

 

**(8.56am) From: Sam**

**[Thank you]**

**[at least someone is nice]**

 

**(8.57am) From: Sharon**

**[Yes. Nice.]**

 

**(8.58am) From: Bucky**

**[uh oh]**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is the formatting alright?

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading.   
> :)
> 
> Pallidus invicem= mutual pining.   
> My ability to name things is as ridiculous as ever.


End file.
